Cruel Legacy by Penny Jordan Read Free Book Online Page B

practice from a newly qualified lackey to a partnership and control over the receivership and liquidation section of the business—via, it had to be admitted, an astute marriage to the daughter of one of the most senior partners who had died only a couple of years after his retirement.
    It was a well-known fact within the company that Ryan was not above breaking his marriage vows when it suited him, but his affairs were invariably brief and always ended should the recipient of his attentions begin to interpret them as anything other than the brief satisfaction of his sexual needs and ego.
    Even while a part of her unwillingly admired him for his sheer drive and determination, Deborah knew that she could never be happy with a man like that. He might pay lip-service to the ideas of female equality, but lip service was all it was, even if his department did have a far larger proportion of qualified female staff than any of the others. There was a reason for that, and it had nothing to do with the superiority of the girls' accountancy qualifications.
    No one spending any length of time in the department could miss the fact that Ryan had a taste for tall, long-legged young women, nor that he enjoyed overwhelming their intelligence and common sense with his sexuality.
    He had tried it on with her when she'd first joined the firm, but she had made it more than plain that she just wasn't interested. Since then he had treated her with amusement and knowingness. He was a very sexually overpowering man, in every sense of the word. At six feet two, he had the physique and the handsomely battered face of an ex-rugby player, and at thirty-five he possessed such strong sexuality that sometimes Deborah felt as though you could almost smell it on the air after he had left the room.
    She was constantly torn between admiration and loathing of him. As an accountant, a fellow professional, she admired him and all that he had achieved; as a woman... She gave a small shiver, redirecting her thoughts to the couple they had just left as Mark unlocked the car.
    'What a dreadful evening,' she commented as he started the engine. 'Poor Emma, I felt so sorry for her. I never imagined that Toby could ever behave so badly...'
    Mark was frowning.
    'What exactly do you mean, Toby is behaving badly? Quite frankly I thought he showed remarkable restraint. If I 'd been him I think I'd have throttled her well before we reached the main course, and smashed every bit of her damned dinner service into the bargain. God, I don't know how he stands it. It must be like selling your soul to the devil. She's certainly got the whiphand in that relationship, and you can see that she intends to use it.'. .
    'What do you mean?' Deborah asked him, frowning. 'It is her money; it's only natural that she should feel she has a right to decide how it's spent...'
    'Oh, yeah, it's her money all right; she made sure we all knew that, didn't she? I've never seen a man so humiliated and emasculated. Poor sod, he told me that when they go to bed now he feels like a stud being paid for sex. He says it's totally changed her, and that'
    'A stud—Toby?' Deborah started to laugh.
    'What's so funny?' Mark asked her curtly.
    'Well, it's just that Toby... and you... well, you're just not the stud type, are you... not like... ?'
    She winced as Mark crashed through the gears, realising too late that she had offended him. 'Mark, I didn't mean that as a complaint... I like you the way you are,' she told him gently, reaching out and touching his knee lightly. 'As far as I'm concerned, over-sexed, pushy men are a complete turn-off. All they can think about is their own satisfaction. They never see past their own egos or even think about what a woman might want.'
    'Whereas poor unsexy sods like me have to make sure we know all about how to make our partners happy if we're ever going to be lucky enough to get a decent lay... is that what you're saying?'
    Deborah gave him a surprised look. What on earth